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denny@KMFord

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So I was getting a lot of questions regarding the Charge Station Pro (Vehicle-to-Grid Charger) so I thought I would do a little research and share with everyone. I have heard that yes this will be included as part of the optional extended range battery. If anyone in the forum is licensed to install these share your information and the state your located in hopefully we might be able to take care of each other a little (please remove that part if not allowed).

Those licensed to intall these maybe share what is needed in your State to actually install and pass an inspection so others can use this thread as a knowledge base of sorts for planning.

Using All The Pins

The Charge Station Pro chargers are among the very first to utilize all seven pins in the CCS1 type charging cord. As you may know, the three big pins in the upper circular part of the charger deliver AC current, while the smaller pins (4 and 5) handle communication between vehicle and charger. The two big pins (6 and 7) are typically used only for DC fast charging.

When the Ford F-150 Lightning is plugged into the Ford Charge Station Pro at home, it charges via pins 1 through 3, but if the power goes out with the truck plugged in, it can instantly switch to delivering just under 10 kW of DC power from the truck back to the house—enough to run most average-size homes. Most other vehicles boasting bi-directional charging export a maximum of more like 2 kW of power, so they do not require the DC pins.

FordPass App Controlled
The instant this energy flow switch happens, the owner gets a notification via the FordPass app, which then allows tailoring of how much "buffer" energy to leave in the battery (and the app can plot the distance to the nearest functional charging station). Owners can also turn the system on and off via the app to avoid running out to the garage, in order to preserve range during periods where power is less critical.

It is also possible to program the truck to automatically power the house every day during those times of day such as late afternoon and evening when peak energy use drives higher energy pricing. The truck can then revert to charging overnight when rates drop again, cleverly saving owners money.

Three Home Charging Options
At launch the truck will come with a corded charger that can plug into a 110- or 240-volt socket for level 1 or 2 charging. F-150 Lightning models ordered with the extended-range battery will come standard with Ford Charge Station Pro, which is capable of charging at a rate of 19.2 kW—that's as much as double some Level 2 charger rates. This charger obviously must be professionally installed and includes the same safety hardware to prevent backcharging the grid and endangering line workers repairing storm damage. The details options for actually powering the grid via vehicle-to-grid charging may vary regionally.

Ford is also working with SunRun to develop a solar home integration kit that will allow solar recharging of the truck. When it's possible to park the F-150 Lightning at home, plugged in, during the sunniest part of the day (when power rates may be low and the power company pays the least for energy returned to the grid), the truck can store the solar energy and then power the house during high-energy-rate hours, delivering better return on the solar investment. Pricing and financing options for the various chargers have yet to be fully determined, and the solar option will always be dependent on the individual home use case.

Here is a link to the source

https://www.motortrend.com/news/fords-charge-station-pro-first-vehicle-to-grid-charger/
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GarageMahal

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Thanks for sharing this article! It implies that the Charge Station Pro has a DC to AC inverter in it to power the house during an outage since DC is coming from the truck. Very interesting since the AC to DC for charging is done onboard the truck. I cannot wait until more details are released so I can figure out how much it will cost me to integrate this into my current solar system.
 

Nick Gerteis

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So I was getting a lot of questions regarding the Charge Station Pro (Vehicle-to-Grid Charger) so I thought I would do a little research and share with everyone. I have heard that yes this will be included as part of the optional extended range battery. If anyone in the forum is licensed to install these share your information and the state your located in hopefully we might be able to take care of each other a little (please remove that part if not allowed).

Those licensed to intall these maybe share what is needed in your State to actually install and pass an inspection so others can use this thread as a knowledge base of sorts for planning.

Using All The Pins

The Charge Station Pro chargers are among the very first to utilize all seven pins in the CCS1 type charging cord. As you may know, the three big pins in the upper circular part of the charger deliver AC current, while the smaller pins (4 and 5) handle communication between vehicle and charger. The two big pins (6 and 7) are typically used only for DC fast charging.

When the Ford F-150 Lightning is plugged into the Ford Charge Station Pro at home, it charges via pins 1 through 3, but if the power goes out with the truck plugged in, it can instantly switch to delivering just under 10 kW of DC power from the truck back to the house—enough to run most average-size homes. Most other vehicles boasting bi-directional charging export a maximum of more like 2 kW of power, so they do not require the DC pins.

FordPass App Controlled
The instant this energy flow switch happens, the owner gets a notification via the FordPass app, which then allows tailoring of how much "buffer" energy to leave in the battery (and the app can plot the distance to the nearest functional charging station). Owners can also turn the system on and off via the app to avoid running out to the garage, in order to preserve range during periods where power is less critical.

It is also possible to program the truck to automatically power the house every day during those times of day such as late afternoon and evening when peak energy use drives higher energy pricing. The truck can then revert to charging overnight when rates drop again, cleverly saving owners money.

Three Home Charging Options
At launch the truck will come with a corded charger that can plug into a 110- or 240-volt socket for level 1 or 2 charging. F-150 Lightning models ordered with the extended-range battery will come standard with Ford Charge Station Pro, which is capable of charging at a rate of 19.2 kW—that's as much as double some Level 2 charger rates. This charger obviously must be professionally installed and includes the same safety hardware to prevent backcharging the grid and endangering line workers repairing storm damage. The details options for actually powering the grid via vehicle-to-grid charging may vary regionally.

Ford is also working with SunRun to develop a solar home integration kit that will allow solar recharging of the truck. When it's possible to park the F-150 Lightning at home, plugged in, during the sunniest part of the day (when power rates may be low and the power company pays the least for energy returned to the grid), the truck can store the solar energy and then power the house during high-energy-rate hours, delivering better return on the solar investment. Pricing and financing options for the various chargers have yet to be fully determined, and the solar option will always be dependent on the individual home use case.

Here is a link to the source

https://www.motortrend.com/news/fords-charge-station-pro-first-vehicle-to-grid-charger/
Valuable information, thank you!
 

GABAR

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Very interesting tech.
 

ChasingCoral

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Thanks for sharing this article! It implies that the Charge Station Pro has a DC to AC inverter in it to power the house during an outage since DC is coming from the truck. Very interesting since the AC to DC for charging is done onboard the truck. I cannot wait until more details are released so I can figure out how much it will cost me to integrate this into my current solar system.
AC to DC conversion is only done on the J-1772 L1/L2 charging. The two large pins below are DC in and out. Note that the article clearly states that the truck delivers DC to the house. The implication is that the inverter is on the house side, maybe in the Pro Charging Station or maybe another piece of needed equipment that is part of the installation SunRun and others will do.
 

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Galactus55

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AC to DC conversion is only done on the J-1772 L1/L2 charging. The two large pins below are DC in and out. Note that the article clearly states that the truck delivers DC to the house. The implication is that the inverter is on the house side, maybe in the Pro Charging Station or maybe another piece of needed equipment that is part of the installation SunRun and others will do.
I am under the impression the truck will supply 9.2 Kw of AC power that is the total output all the 11 ports. So from that I would think the truck can supply 9.2 Kw of AC power back through to the the 80 Amp Pro switch. The 80 Amp Pro can supply at least 48 amp to the truck is should not have any problem with 9.2 Kw at 240 volts going back to the house.
 

sotek2345

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I am under the impression the truck will supply 9.2 Kw of AC power that is the total output all the 11 ports. So from that I would think the truck can supply 9.2 Kw of AC power back through to the the 80 Amp Pro switch. The 80 Amp Pro can supply at least 48 amp to the truck is should not have any problem with 9.2 Kw at 240 volts going back to the house.
It is 9.6Kw, not 9.2, but it isn't clear yet if the V2H setup will use the trucks onboard inverters (and send back A/C to the house), or if the inverter will be part of the home setup, and the truck sends DC over the larger pins on the CCS connector.
 

ChasingCoral

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I am under the impression the truck will supply 9.2 Kw of AC power that is the total output all the 11 ports. So from that I would think the truck can supply 9.2 Kw of AC power back through to the the 80 Amp Pro switch. The 80 Amp Pro can supply at least 48 amp to the truck is should not have any problem with 9.2 Kw at 240 volts going back to the house.
The trucks with the Extended Range battery have dual chargers. So they can effectively charge at the full 80A.
 

adoublee

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I am under the impression the truck will supply 9.2 Kw of AC power that is the total output all the 11 ports. So from that I would think the truck can supply 9.2 Kw of AC power back through to the the 80 Amp Pro switch. The 80 Amp Pro can supply at least 48 amp to the truck is should not have any problem with 9.2 Kw at 240 volts going back to the house.
A couple of reasons for me to think the onboard AC-DC converters are not bidirectional themselves (even though the vehicle overall can be described as such):

1. The 9.6kW of onboard AC outlets are not standard with the extended range battery of all trims. This implies different mechanism for 9.6kW to the house (available with all vehicles connected to 80A device) than to 9.6kW of onboard outlets.

2. If the onboard AC to DC rectifier/chargers were themselves bidirectional, it is highly likely a time delay would be needed to switch modes from receiving power to supplying it. I have heard several mentions of instantaneous backup which does suggest a seperate tap into DC battery voltage and normally a maintained supply synchronization with grid voltage (interrupted at transition to backup if there is no indication house has islanded from the grid at the microgrid interconnection device or MID sometimes called ATS here).

3. The inverter forming the grid is going to have to communicate with the MID that could be located anywhere around the home. Inverter in the vehicle may not do this reliably, and would not be doing it while away from the home.

There might be other technical reasons to have the charging path separated from the grid forming path, especially if allowing for immediate transition from net supplying power to home to net receiving it from onsite power sources like solar.
 

jefro

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If it is using the DC pins then it has something near 400VDCV on those pins. The house inverter will need to convert to AC.
 
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Galactus55

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It is 9.6Kw, not 9.2, but it isn't clear yet if the V2H setup will use the trucks onboard inverters (and send back A/C to the house), or if the inverter will be part of the home setup, and the truck sends DC over the larger pins on the CCS connector.
Sorry thought is was 9.2Kw I sit corrected :)
 

Sklith

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I highly doubt the Charge Station Pro will have an inverter built-in since the Lightning already has one on-board. Sure, the "DC" CCS pins will be used for this but it makes no sense to have redundant hardware like this. A 9.6kW inverter ain't cheap!
 

jefro

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The truck will allow DC out of it's charge port. The truck has a converter (two actually) and it is not an inverter. It's just a battery charger.

The house or this 80A charge pro will have the inverter to convert dc to ac.
 

Sklith

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The 80A onboard charger can, and will take the role as an inverter.
 

biers

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The 80A onboard charger can, and will take the role as an inverter.
Could be right. But I’m betting with those who think there will be an inverter as part of the “integration” kit. We saw photos around the release of the 80A EVSE. It uses the DC pins. If the onboard chargers are used to bring DC back to AC it would likely only be able to send that power back over the AC pins.
We also know the SR can provide 9.6 kW home power with the 80A EVSE. How could it do that with its 48A single on board charger?

What are we all going to do once Ford gives us all the real answers.
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